Sony PlayStation 3 Sales Reach 70 Million Units Worldwide

Sony Computer Entertainment said Friday that the cumulative sales of the PlayStation3 video game entertainment system reached a milestone of 70 million units worldwide as of November 4, 2012, less than six years after the platform launched in 2006. SCE also announced that sales of the PlayStation Move motion controller surpassed 15 million units worldwide as of November 11.

After six years on the market, Sony PlayStation 3 has finally almost managed to catch up with the arch-rival Microsoft Xbox 360, which hit 70 million milestone on September 30, 2012. In several months, PS3 will likely outsell the Xbox 360. Still, in terms of unit sales, both consoles are well behind Nintendo Wii, which has been sold in quantities exceeding 97 million as of September 30, 2012.

Throughout its lifecycle, Sony PS3 system has continued to evolve with more streamlined design, larger hard disk drive capacity, and new features through software updates. In September 2012, SCE launched the third-generation PlayStation 3, which has a reduced volume and weight of more than 50% compared to the original PS3 model, and of 25% and 20% respectively compared to the slim PlayStation 3 model launched in 2009.

Along with the introduction of PlayStation 3 in November 2006, SCE launched PlayStation Network, which now operates in 59 countries and regions around the world. PSN supports free community-centric online gameplay, exclusive games from independent developers and major publishers, and a broad range of entertainment applications across movies, music, and sports. PS3 owners can access 170 thousand downloadable digital content including 57 000 game content worldwide from PlayStation Network.

While the PlayStation 3 seems to be catching up with the Xbox 360, the Move controller from Sony is still significantly behind Microsoft’s Kinect motion sensor, which surpassed 18 million units sold back in January 9, 2012.

SCE will continue to further expand the PS3 platform and create a world of computer entertainment. Recently Sony introduced a set of features and capabilities that wed PlayStation 3 to PlayStation Vita and provide completely new experience.